Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle Reviews: What Critics Said

Editorial note: This is a roundup of published criticism of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle. Celluloid has not screened the film for this piece, and it carries no Celluloid rating. The critics are named and linked under Sources.

Is Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle worth watching?

For fans of the series, critics largely say yes: the animation and fight choreography are as striking as anything in recent anime, and the villains’ backstories carry real emotional weight. The near-universal reservation is structural. Reviewers found the film long and episodic, repeatedly interrupted by flashbacks, and several warned that it assumes a working knowledge of the television series and ends without resolution.

What is Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle about?

The film picks up directly from the television series. The Demon Slayer Corps are pulled into the Infinity Castle, the shifting stronghold of the demons, where Tanjiro, his sister Nezuko and the elite swordsmen known as the Hashira face the most powerful Upper Rank demons as the final battle against Muzan Kibutsuji begins. In Japan it was released as the first chapter of the Infinity Castle arc, subtitled Akaza Returns.

Haruo Sotozaki directs, with animation by the studio Ufotable. The Japanese voice cast is led by Natsuki Hanae as Tanjiro, with Takahiro Sakurai, Akira Ishida, Hiro Shimono, Saori Hayami and Mamoru Miyano. Released in 2025, Infinity Castle runs 156 minutes.

What critics praised

The visuals drew praise from every quarter. In Screen Daily, Elizabeth Kerr admired its richly drawn widescreen compositions and energetic action, which she felt gave the film a genuinely cinematic polish, and enjoyed its blend of bright imagery, melodrama and gentle comedy. For CBR, Brett Cardaro called the production top tier, praising Ufotable’s blend of computer-generated backgrounds and hand-drawn animation and arguing that the visuals alone justify a trip to the cinema. He also singled out an orchestral score that moves easily between roaring fight music and quiet ballads, and said the demons’ backstories include some of the most heartbreaking scenes in the whole franchise.

Evan Valentine of ComicBook.com rated the fights among the best of the year and felt Ufotable had amplified what worked in the manga, with the castle itself the most beautiful part of the film’s design. He found both the Japanese and English voice tracks strong. Jeff Ewing at Collider praised exceptional, constantly inventive combat, a fine voice cast and a flashback for Akaza that gives the villain real tragedy and depth. Even Richard Eisenbeis of Anime News Network, the most critical of this group, said there is barely a frame that would not look good on a wall, and credited the film with a genuine sense of danger throughout.

Where critics were divided

The disagreement was less about quality than about form. Eisenbeis argued that the story structure undercuts itself: battles keep stopping for flashbacks that are necessary for context but kill the momentum, and the emotional backstories arrive too quickly to land. At well over two and a half hours, he felt it plays even longer, and suggested the material suits serialised television better than a single feature.

Ewing reached a similar conclusion, describing top-quality anime that should not have been a film. He felt it is far from standalone, would have benefited from a proper introduction, and plays like a run of episodes, with context often arriving after the events it explains. Valentine likewise felt it resembles a television season stitched together, noted that some established heroes barely feature, and contrasted it with the more self-contained Mugen Train.

Kerr found that the episodic structure occasionally disrupts an already overlong film, that the spoken inner monologues take some getting used to, and that several popular characters are held back for later instalments. Cardaro, the most enthusiastic of the five, still found the time spent on backstories jarring at points and warned that newcomers may be lost.

Who is it for?

Critics were clear that this is a film for people already invested in Demon Slayer, ideally having watched the television series up to this point. For them, it offers some of the most lavish action animation available on a big screen. On that evidence, newcomers would do better to start with the series or Mugen Train. It is rated R in the US and 15 in the UK, reflecting its violent content. More titles sit on the animation shelf.

The critical verdict

Critics agreed that Infinity Castle is a visual and technical high point for anime, with fights and backstories that fans will find thrilling and moving. Nearly all of them also felt that its flashback-driven, episodic shape makes a long film feel longer, and that it works as the first part of a larger story rather than as a complete feature. The consensus is a strong recommendation for existing fans and a cautious one for everyone else.